Preface: I live in the northwest and mostly fish freshwater for crappie, bass, carp, trout, steelhead, salmon, and sturgeon (from the bank). I have some knowledge of surf fishing and jetty fishing for surf perch, stripped bass, rockfish, and lingcod. I'm am an amateur. I own 7 rods and 4 reels. I know next to nothing about Louisiana species or waters.
Rod brands: If you want cheap, can't go wrong with an UglyStik. They are nearly indestructible. The drawback? less sensitivity. Though using braid helps make up lack of a lack of rod sensitivity. A step up would be Okuma rods; these are a good balance between budget and quality and I recommend them. A further step up would be Lamiglas, Daiwa, Shimano, St croix, plus other good brands in the $100-200 range. If you want to go all out, look for a rod made from an IM8 graphite blank for maximum sensitivity (probably unnecessary unless you're targeting a species that bites very lightly)
That PENN Battle II is not made for salt water. What I mean is, it's not corrosion resistant. It can be used for salt water just make sure you rinse it off really well with clean water at the end of the day (use a hose or sink faucet and really douse the whole thing). Getting water inside the reel isn't ideal, but its better than leaving salt water in there. You can oil the rod more often to make up for the frequent rinsing. Otherwise the salt water will corrode the body screws, gears, bearings, spool, etc and ruin your reel.
Are you fishing from boat, beach, pier, jetty? Will you fish freshwater? What is the biggest you expect to run into? (in weight). I can give some advice about rods but knowing where you are casting from and what size of species you are fishing will change my advice. Instead of me writing multiple paragraphs, maybe you could answer these questions to help give me a direction.